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Topic: Hockey pool anybody? (Read 150 times)
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Mike Blais
SSM (NATO Bar), CPSM, UN-Cyp, CD
Ultimate 2000+ Member
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Gender: 
Posts: 3437
A ROYAL CANADIAN "NEVER PASSES A FAULT"
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Any fans of the NHL here? How bout we start a little RCR hockey pool for the playoffs. Just for bragging rights, of course. Let me know if your interested, I play at a good site that is free and, most important, easy to use. 30 mil, seven players, too easy. They keep track of the score. Maybe someone with an artistic knack can draw up a cup of something for the winner...
And speaking of the NHL. gotta love Eugene...
Ottawa Senators owner in Afghanistan with gifts for soldiers
Jonathan Fowlie, CanWest News Service
Published: Sunday, April 01, 2007
Kandahar, Afghanistan -- Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk touched down in Kandahar Sunday morning to visit with the troops and donate gifts, including a supply of ball hockey equipment.
Melnyk arrived at the NATO base under sunny skies in a Canadian C130 Hercules aircraft just after 11:15 a.m.
Military officials said the billionaire had been in Dubai on business before coming to the base.
He was scheduled to meet with military officials during the day on Sunday before addressing the troops in the afternoon. After Melnyk's address, soldiers from the Canadian and U.S. forces are scheduled to face off in a ball hockey game.
Melnyk, who became the sole owner of the Senators in 2003, is the chairman and chief executive officer of Biovail Corporation.
Prior to forming Biovail, the 47-year-old Canadian created a medical publishing company called Trimel Corporation.
Melnyk also owns the Ontario Hockey League's St. Michael's Majors major junior hockey team as well as the Winding Oaks Farm training centre for thoroughbred horses in Ocala, Florida.
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1RCR 1977-79 Depot (Italy PL), B Coy, Mortars, Pioneers, D Coy (CFB London)
3RCR 1979-82 M Coy, Pipes & Drums, Sigs, Mortars. (CFB Baden-Soellingen)
1RCR 1982-88 Mortars. Dukes, Cyprus-Welfare NCO 84-85, Injured, WO&Sgts Mess, (CFB London)
1988-92 Med-remuster to HELL/ 35 DU, CFB Baden
1992 Medical release. God Bless you all!
Pro Patria
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Mike Blais
SSM (NATO Bar), CPSM, UN-Cyp, CD
Ultimate 2000+ Member
Offline
Gender:
Posts: 3437
A ROYAL CANADIAN "NEVER PASSES A FAULT"
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Excellent! as is this
Ottawa Senators owner gives $50,000 worth of hockey gear to troops in Kandahar at 13:47 on April 1, 2007, EST.
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (CP) - Hockey night in Kandahar has a major league fan.
Standing on an armoured vehicle in the desert sun, a Canadian flag flapping on a radio antenna overhead, Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk handed out C$50,000 worth of hockey gear to soldiers to show his support for their efforts in Afghanistan.
Melnyk first told a joke to the troops about his willingness to do anything to sell a season's ticket. But then he got serious.
"I had no idea, as probably a lot of people don't, what exactly you do out here. It is more than just fighting. It is more about building," Melnyk said Sunday.
"I am your No. 1 fan ... I think you are doing a phenomenal thing out here and whatever I can do to promote you I'm going to. I'm going to make a point of it and I want to thank you on behalf of my family who sleeps better at night because of you, for everything you do."
Playing and watching ball hockey is an important ritual for some of the 2,500 men and women who make up Canada's Task Force Afghanistan.
Every week, three nights per week, 300 players in 15 teams take turns facing off on a makeshift open air concrete rink built on a patch of sand.
The squad from headquarters is the team to beat right now. Most of the teams represent each of the myriad of smaller units that make up the task force.
While there are some red Maple Leafs painted on the boards and a Tim Hortons coffee shop nearby, the players never quite forget they are playing in a desert and in a war zone.
"The games are 25 minutes long because of the heat," said Maj. Mike Hendrigan, the president of the league.
"Last Friday the games were called because of rain and because a rocket flew over the camp."
"We have a rule in our constitution that in case of a rocket attack we call the game, go to the shelters, and reschedule."
The players and teams play for the Kandahar Cup, a pint-sized version of Lord Stanley's coveted trophy.
Playoffs are to begin in May, when temperatures in Kandahar will climb well into the 40s.
The soldiers with their ratty gear were like kids on Christmas morning when Melnyk, the billionaire Santa, starting hauling new hockey sticks, pads and Ottawa Senator jerseys out of the guts of a Bison armoured vehicle, his makeshift sleigh.
It was hard to tell who was happier, the soldiers, who quickly donned their new equipment for a exhibition game against the camp's Team U.S.A., or Melnyk, who seemed to bask in their delight.
"This is just a fantastic initiative by Mr. Melnyk," said Capt. Jim Bacon of Petawawa, Ont.
"This is a great stress releaser and gets our minds on something near and dear to our hearts."
Melnyk assumed the role of sole owner, governor and chairman of the Ottawa Senators Hockey Club in August 2003.
The chairman of Biovail Corporation, a pharmaceutical company, he considers himself to be a passionate sports fan.
Melnyk said he was scheduled to be on a business trip in Dubai this week and decided to make the stop in nearby Afghanistan.
He was flown to the base in a Canadian Armed Forces C130 Hercules transport.
When he walked onto the tarmac of the massive NATO airfield he was wearing green body armour and carrying an army helmet.
"They were just beaming. These are grown men," he said after dropping the ball for the opening faceoff in the game between Team Canada and the Americans.
Melnyk also had some new gear for the American players, including New York Rangers and Washington Capitals jerseys.
Canada won the game 9-0.
"It is phenomenal to think about it. We have to be out of our minds to be playing hockey in the middle of the desert," Melnyk said.
"But it just goes to show you. It is our national game."
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1RCR 1977-79 Depot (Italy PL), B Coy, Mortars, Pioneers, D Coy (CFB London)
3RCR 1979-82 M Coy, Pipes & Drums, Sigs, Mortars. (CFB Baden-Soellingen)
1RCR 1982-88 Mortars. Dukes, Cyprus-Welfare NCO 84-85, Injured, WO&Sgts Mess, (CFB London)
1988-92 Med-remuster to HELL/ 35 DU, CFB Baden
1992 Medical release. God Bless you all!
Pro Patria
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